1. T-SHIRT FRENZY – STEWART LEE “I DON’T THINK THAT’ T-SHIRTS

WAX FACE return to the crowded official Stewart Lee t-shirt marketplace with their most self-consciously cool design yet, cynically targeted at the ageing indie-hipster audience that make up Stewart’s delusional following.

“I don’t think that. I think the opposite of that.“, is Stewart’s philosophy of comedy boiled down to one zen-sized nugget, serving as a chest-sized signal to other secret adepts, and offering protection against psychic attack.

‘I Don’t Think That, I Think The Opposite Of That’ is the Stewart Lee T-Shirt available on Pre-Order now via https://wax-face.com/stewart-lee
The T-Shirt available in two colourways.
Silk Screened and hand printed on Anthem Organic t-shirts.

2. TV SNOWFLAKE TORNADO

Snowflake and Tornado are both on the BBC iplayer now.

Snowflake is here. & Tornado is here.

3. BASIC LEE

The tour of the new stand-up show, BASIC LEE, resumes active service at the Leicester Square Theatre in December and nationwide from January 2024

December 2023

Saturday 9th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Sunday 10th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London MATINEE – TICKETS
Sunday 10th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Monday 11th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Tuesday 12th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Wednesday 13th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Thursday 14th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Friday 15th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Saturday 16th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Sunday 17th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London MATINEE – TICKETS
Sunday 17th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Monday 18th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Tuesday 19th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Wednesday 20th December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Thursday 21st December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Friday 22nd December 2023 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS

January 2024

Thursday 4th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Friday 5th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Sunday 7th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London MATINEE – TICKETS
Sunday 7th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Monday 8th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Wednesday 10th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Thursday 11th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Sunday 14th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Monday 15th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Tuesday 16th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Wednesday 17th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Thursday 18th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Friday 19th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Saturday 20th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London MATINEE – TICKETS
Saturday 20th January 2024 – Leicester Square Theatre, London – TICKETS
Monday 22nd January 2024 – Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham – TICKETS
Tuesday 23rd January 2024 – Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham – TICKETS
Wednesday 24th January 2024 – Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham – TICKETS
Thursday 25th January 2024 – Westlands, Yeovil – TICKETS
Friday 26th January 2024 – Westlands, Yeovil – TICKETS
Saturday 27th January 2024 – The Forum, Bath – TICKETS
Sunday 28th January 2024 – Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton – TICKETS
Monday 29th January 2024 – The Marlowe, Canterbury – TICKETS

February 2024

Friday 2nd February 2024 – The Hawth, Crawley – TICKETS
Saturday 3rd February 2024 – Symphony Hall, Birmingham – TICKETS
Sunday 4th February 2024 – William Aston Hall, Wrexham – TICKETS
Tuesday 6th February 2024 – Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool – TICKETS
Wednesday 7th February 2024 – Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool – TICKETS
Thursday 8th February 2024 – Playhouse, Leeds
Friday 9th February 2024 – Playhouse, Leeds
Saturday 10th February 2024 – Playhouse, Leeds
Sunday 11th February 2024 – Theatre Royal, Newcastle – TICKETS
Sunday 18th February 2024 – DeMontfort Hall, Leicester AN INTERVIEW WITH STEWART LEE – TICKETS
Sunday 18th February 2024 – DeMontfort Hall, Leicester – TICKETS
Tuesday 20th February 2024 – Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate – TICKETS
Wednesday 21st February 2024 – Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate – TICKETS
Thursday 22nd February 2024 – The Baths Hall, Scunthorpe – TICKETS
Friday 23rd February 2024 – Opera House, Buxton – TICKETS
Saturday 24th February 2024 – Belgrade Theatre, Coventry – TICKETS
Sunday 25th February 2024 – Belgrade Theatre, Coventry – TICKETS
Monday 26th February 2024 – Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe – TICKETS
Thursday 29th February 2024 – The Hexagon, Reading – TICKETS

March 2024

Friday 1st March 2024 – Royal & Derngate, Northampton – TICKETS
Saturday 2nd March 2024 – The Beacon, Bristol – TICKETS
Sunday 3rd March 2024 – Theatre Royal, Plymouth – TICKETS
Tuesday 5th March 2024 – Playhouse, Oxford
Wednesday 6th March 2024 – Playhouse, Oxford
Thursday 7th March 2024 – Playhouse, Oxford
Friday 8th March 2024 – Playhouse, Oxford
Saturday 9th March 2024 – Storyhouse, Chester – TICKETS
Tuesday 12th March 2024 – Playhouse, Nottingham – TICKETS
Wednesday 13th March 2024 – Playhouse, Nottingham – TICKETS
Thursday 14th March 2024 – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield – TICKETS
Friday 15th March 2024 – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield – TICKETS
Saturday 16th March 2024 – Hippodrome, Darlington – TICKETS
Sunday 17th March 2024 – King’s Theatre, Glasgow – TICKETS
Thursday 21st March 2024 – King’s Theatre, Portsmouth
Friday 22nd March 2024 – Chelmsford Theatre, Chelmsford – TICKETS
Saturday 23rd March 2024 – Chelmsford Theatre, Chelmsford – TICKETS
Sunday 24th March 2024 – Theatre Royal, Norwich – TICKETS
Tuesday 26th March 2024 – St. David’s Hall, Cardiff – TICKETS
Wednesday 27th March 2024 – Northcott Theatre, Exeter – TICKETS
Thursday 28th March 2024 – Northcott Theatre, Exeter – TICKETS

April 2024

Wednesday 17th April 2024 – St. George’s Hall, Bradford – TICKETS
Thursday 18th April 2024 – St. George’s Hall, Bradford – TICKETS
Monday 22nd April 2024 – The Lowry, Salford – TICKETS
Tuesday 23rd April 2024 – The Lowry, Salford – TICKETS
Thursday 25th April 2024 – The Alban Arena, St. Albans – TICKETS

4. EDINBLUR

I will be doing a truncated, compacted 70 min version of BASIC LEE, stripped of nuance and heavy on laffs, in the Edinburgh Fringe at The Stand’s New Town Theatre from Aug 11-20th at 1.50pm

edfringe.com/whats-on/stewart-lee-basic-lee

Other top shows in the same space include Danny Bhoy’s Now Is Not A Good Time, the always exceptional Paul Sinha’s Pauly Bengali, and Robin Ince’s Melons.
And remember, because of the unique way The Stand is run, none of the less visible August acts go home financially ruined for ever, even the ones whose politics I disagree with.

MY EDINBLUR REC’S SO FAR

Bear in mind I know almost nothing about what’s happening in comedy these days, and I will add in Free Fringe rec’s in the August mailout.
But for now, these are things I personally would try and see because I have seen them and liked them or think I might like them and this list is not some boilerplated Sunday Supplement paradigm.
But while I know nothing, for example, about The Only Punk In The Village and The Crisp Review beyond liking the blurb, everything else on this culturally stale list I have seen recently and liked.

I am very sorry to see that Alfie Brown is not on at the fringe this year, who I felt was beginning to be brilliant and a timely reminder of what stand-up as a genre is capable of.
On a wider note, remember, everything has been fucked by the Tories and if the fringe seems too costly and middle class and elitist it is because people are being priced out of arts, culture, eduction etc, arguably deliberately, everywhere by this government and its enablers and the Fringe is merely a microcosm of that.

As usual, support Free Fringe shows and cross the tracks to Stand venues, as the Stand continues, miraculously, to manage its finances to ensure no-one goes home in debt.
And only see shows promoted by Avalon if nice people are doing them and they seem suitably ashamed of themselves.

15.15 Simon Munnery – Stand
17.15 The Only Punk Rocker In The Village – Space Triplex – 14th-19th
17.40 Paul Sinha – Stand New Town Theatre
17.50 The Crisp Review – Paradise In The Vault – 14th-27th
18.00 James Rowland – Summerhall
19.00 Police Cops – Assembly Rooms George Square
19.00 Phil Kay’s Funny Walks – Just The Tonic Caves – 12th-26th
19.20 David O’Doherty – Assembly George Square
19.20 Paul Foot – Underbelly Cowgate
19.30 Celya A B – Pleasance Courtyard
19.30 The Rite of Spring – Playhouse – 17th-19th
20.00 Rosie Holt – Pleasance Courtyard
20.00 Orange Claw Hammer – Beefheart band – Bannermans – 19th,25th
20.15 Jo Caulfied – Stand
20.25 2 Guys, 3 Drams – Music & whisky – The Space – 10th-26th
20.30/15.00 Phaedra/Minotaur – Lyceum – 18th-20th
20.35 Robin Ince – Stand New Town Theatre
20.50 Frank Skinner – Assembly George Square
20.55 Jonny & The Baptists – Assembly George Square – 9th-15th
21.00 Paul Currie – Just The Tonic Caves
21.00 Phil Kay’s Silent Discovery – Bludagardens 13th-26th
21.40 Huge Davies – Pleasance Courtyard
21.50 Flat & The Curves – Pleasance Dome
22.00 Colin Steele Quintet Play Miles Davis – Jazz Bar – 16th-20th
22.25 Andrew O’Neill – Monkey Barrel
0.00 Blueswater – Jazz Bar – 9th,13th,16th,24th,27th

5. I ARROGANTLY RECOMMEND SOME 2023 HAPPENINGS AND THINGS

HAWKWIND This current Hawkwind iteration channels their classic ‘70s space rock sound unashamedly, with keyboardist Thighpaulsandra of Coil, Cope and Spiritualised clearly living out a childhood dream.
AUGUST 28th – Castell Roc, Chepstow Castle
(SOLD OUT – SHAMELESS BLAG – CAN ANYONE GET ME IN? – I USED TO BE FAMOUS IN THE ‘90S), OCTOBER 29TH Royal Albert Hall.

MARTIN CARTHY Venerable and invaluable folk veteran JULY 2nd Leicester Musician, NIV 5th Scunthorpe Plowright Theatre, DEC 8th London Mycenae House

TREEBOY & ARC Televisionary young post-punks OCT 18th London Moth Club

THE BOO RADLEYS Reformed 90s psychedelic Britpop era fish out of water OCT 32st B’ham Institute, NOV 4th Islington Academy

THE CHAMELEONS Most convincing line-up for years of the always emotionally edifying Big Music should-have-beens. JULY 1ST London Islington Assembly, 3rd Bristol Fleece, 4th Brighton Chalk, 7th Castleton Devil’s Arse, 8th Holmfirth Picturedrome

EX-EASTER ISLAND HEAD Plangent no wave influenced serial minimalists. Have to be seen! AUG 31st Birkenhead Future Yard, SEPT 15th London St John on The Green

TINARIWEN Always mesmerising Mali blues band JULY 13th London Somerset House, 15th Bristol SWX, 17th Glasgow St Lukes, 19th B’ham Institute,

EMIL KARLSEN, DOMINIC LASH, JOHN BUTCHER Free jazz trio, 100 Years Gallery London July 16th

BARBARA MANNING Returning American psyche-folk songstress of 28th Day fame, The Betsey Trotwood, London, 22nd July.

MDC American hardcore punk legends AUG 1st New Cross Inn London

SUN RA ARKESTRA Cosmic Jazz institution AUG 10th & 11th Camden Forge, London

CHRIS CACAVAS Emotive Americana songwriter of Green on Red fame AUG 15th Green Note London, 17th Sheffield Dorothy Pax

DISCHARGE Hardcore punk pioneers SEPT 3rd Derby Victoria Inn, 8th Bristol Fleece, 9th Exeter Phoenix, OCT 20th London New Cross Inn, 21st Stamford Mama Liz’s, 28th Bournemouth Anvil, DEC 23rd B’ham Castle & Falcon

DAN STUART Fearsome legend of ‘80s alt countrY, hard bitten novelist, and former Green on Red frontman SEPT 6th Stoke On Trent St Lawrence’s Church, 7th Nottingham Running Horse, 9th Edinburgh Voodoo Rooms, 10th Glasgow Glad Cafe

CODEINE Godfathers of slowcore reform and have one UK date, London Garage September 10th

ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN Another tilt at the infinite horizon from the cosmic scallies SEPT 12TH Nottingham Royal Concert Halls, 14th Edinburgh Usher Halls, 16th L’pool Bank Arena, 18th London Royal Albert Hall

DEATHCRASH Youthful slowcore revivalists SEPT 14th Leeds Mill Hill Chapel, 15th Glasgow CCA, 16th Salford White Hotel, 17th Bristol Cube, 23rd Dublin Workman’s Cellar, 28th London Fabric

BEVIS FROND – Psychedelic survivors of pop-sass and epic grandeur. Sept 15th Leytonstone Social Club. + TOUR TBA

BLUE AEROPLANES/WAVE PICTURES Superb double bill of classic indie intellectuals. SEP 29th London Electric ballroom

THE SONICS ‘60s garage punks of ‘Have Love Will Travel’ and Strychnine fame, still slogging on OCT 12th Bristol Fleece, 13th London garage, 14th Glasgow Room 2, 17th Leeds Brudenell

CALEXICO Tucson’s cinematic desert rock band NOV 1st Bexhill-on-Sea Pavillion, 2nd London Electric Ballroom, 3rd Sunderland Fire Station, 4th M’cr New Century, 5th Dublin Helix

SLEAFORD MODS Shouting men NOV 22nd B’ham Academy, 23rd Glasgow Academy, 25th Dublin Academy, 28th Leeds Academy, 29th M’cr Victoria Warehouse, 30th Bristol Academy, DEC 2nd London Alexandra Palace (with me as support at the final one)

MICHAEL ROTHER Neu! noise man still motoring FEB 3rd 2024 London Barbican

6. Lloyd / Bean

LLOYD / BEAN’s Black Cat, Dark Horse video!

After decades during which his band The Nightingales worked in relative obscurity, the request from director Michael Cumming and comedian Stewart Lee to produce and direct a film about Robert Lloyd‘s long journey and his band The Nightingales came as a great surprise. The film was about 75% completed before Rob himself thought it might reach fruition.

True to their word – and with help from James Nicholls at Fire Films – Michael and Stew completed the project and saw its release to rather unexpected fanfare, multiple airings on Sky TV, and a big enough change in the trajectory of Rob’s career that he began to be perceived as that sort of cool kind of anti-pop star who gets asked for opinions in the year-end issues of Mojo and Uncut, despite being the same fellow he’s been for years. We were all delighted . . . and we’re still delighted, in fact.

During the long plague, Rob and American artist Janet Bean from Freakwater and Eleventh Dream Day began plotting an oddly-undefined project based in nothing more than a shared admiration for each other’s projects. Finally convening in Spain with Mark Bedford from Madness, Pete Byrchmore from Membranes and local drumming genius Pablo Roda, the newly-named Lloyd / Bean recorded fifteen or so tracks which had been written for other projects, given to them by friends, pulled from favourite records and assembled in the studio from a big collection of scrap paper ideas.

The record’s fantastic . . . toeing lines between country and postpunk, pensive thought and frivolous fun, The Monkees and Jim Elkington and plenty more beyond that.

But this all prelude to the big news. Michael Cumming and his able crew wrote to ask if we’d consider letting him do a proper video for one of the songs. A no-brainer, really! The title track, Black Cat. Dark Horse was chosen; Rob, Janet and Pete Byrchmore (you’ll only see Pete’s fingers!) were prepped and tailored and readied for that future technology that (confusingly) took them back to the late ’60s / early ’70s world where the best publicity an artist could dream of was an appearance on the legendary Ed Sullivan Show.

Alongside Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner and Motown‘s awesome roster of talent from The Supremes to the Temptations . . . Lloyd / Bean are now a part of the official canon.

CLICK HERE TO SEE AND BELIEVE IT!

We cannot ever thank Michael Cumming, Moxie Pictures, The Ed Sullivan Show and SOFA Entertainment enough for their immense generosity and grooviness.

SUPPORT THE ALBUM BY LISTENING AND PURCHASING HERE

Until next time!

TGP

7. IN OUR LAMENTATIONS 2023

Ruggero Deodato (Junk genius, 1939)
Kelly Monteith (Lucky pants stand-up, 1942)
Alan Rankine (Associate musician, 1958)
Darryl Hunt (Pogue bass, 1950)
Jeff Beck (He happened ten years time ago, 1944)
Jane Suck (punk chronicler, 195?)
Yukihiro Takahashi (Sadistic Mika Man, 1952)
Ronald Blythe (Akenfieldsman, 1922)
Piers Haggard (hack genius of Claw and Quatermass, 1932)
Van Connor (sturdy psychedelic tree, 1967)
David Sutherland (Bash Street basher, 1933)
David Crosby (Byrdmaniac, 1941)
Tom Verlaine (Sui generis genius Televisionary, 1949)
Burt Bacarach (Musical cheesnius, 1928)
Eugene Cheese (chucklin’ cheesenius moocher, 1944)
Betty Boothroyd (croaky speaker, 1939)
Wayne Shorter (Shorter no longer, 1933)
David Lindley (Kaleidoscopic guitarist, 1944)
Keith Johnstone (Improvisational Canadian, 1933)
Rolly Crump (West Coast Pop Artist, 1930)
Paul O’Grady (Proudly woke drag act, 1955)
Peter Usborne (Generation-spooking publisher, 1937)
Tony Coe (Jazz panther, 1934)
Barry Humphries (Machenalian Australian, 1934)
Mark Stewart (Bristol pre-post-punk pioneer, 1960)
Gareth Richards (Comedian, 1979)
Johnny Fean (Horslips guitar bandit, 1951)
Frank Kozik (the Giotto of grunge, 1962)
Andy Smart (Bull-running comedian, 1959)
Alan Frank (Gateway ‘70s film scribe, 1942)
Algy Ward (Damned bass Saint, 1959)
Andy Rourke (Sainted bass Smith, 1964)
Pete Brown (Battered ornament, 1940)
George Logan (The Black Cap’s breakout Hinge, 1944)
Jah Shaka (Sound system shaker, 1948)
Spot (SST soundman, 1951)
Ahmad Jamal (cool jazz piano 1931)
Harry Belafonte (anti-apartheid boat singer, 1927)
Gordon Lightfoot (Fitzgerald wrecker, 1938)
Stu James (Mojo not working, 1945)
Jon Povey (Pretty bass Thing, 1942)
Broderick Smith (Singing Dingoe, 1948)
Wee Willie Harris (2 I’s wild man, 1933)
Cliff Fish (Paper Bass, 1949)
Simon Emerson (Afro-Celt Weekender and a very nice man, 1956)
Bruce Barthol (Fish bass, 1947)
Top Topham (Yardbird & man with ‘top’ twice in name, 1947)
Renee Geyer (Voice of Sun, 1947)
Tony McPhee (Hoglord, 1944)
Martin Duffy (He Felt the keys, 1967)
Jack Lee (He nervously hung on the telephone, 1952)
Cormac McCarthy (The real writing deal, 1933)
Peter Brotzmann (Machine-gunner, 1941)